American Fidelity

[Snowman]

AF moving that far out will go down as one of the biggest blunders in OKC corporate relocation history. This is what happens when decisions are made by executives who don't pump their own gas or make a car payment. How are their employees going to get to work when gas goes north of $5/gal?

For the sake of argument, assuming it is a blunder, how would it be worse than the original move of OPUBCO corporate headquarters which moved there from downtown?

[Rover]

AF moving that far out will go down as one of the biggest blunders in OKC corporate relocation history. This is what happens when decisions are made by executives who don't pump their own gas or make a car payment. How are their employees going to get to work when gas goes north of $5/gal?

Until there are mass trans options, this is probably MORE sensitive to the employees travel time and expenses. I am sure more of their employees are north than in downtown. I know you hate companies and people who run companies, and free choice and enterprise in general, but companies have to be responsible to the owners and employees. This would seem to make sense for the company and current employees, but does nothing to promote the downtown agenda. That part is disappointing.

[BoulderSooner]

For the sake of argument, assuming it is a blunder, how would it be worse than the original move of OPUBCO corporate headquarters which moved there from downtown?

in OUPUBCO's case they moved to be next to their printing operation .. so they really consolidated ..

[BDP]

If this plays out, it represents a double bummer really because this will be a real blow to 23rd & Classen without helping downtown.

Yep. This would have nothing but negative community effect. It's interesting what little impact OPUBCO's presence ever had on its surroundings and I can't imagine AF would be any different. On the flip side, AF has had a great impact on its current community and moving will only have a net negative effect on the city's redevelopment efforts. Hopefully, the AF complex won't be empty for too long and the effect of their move will be mitigated in the long run. At least then, we'd be back where we started, even if nothing gets a boost out of the deal.

[Pete]

That AF space on Classen is relatively nice and the office market is tight, so hopefully it will fill back up.

But as I noted earlier, the OPUBCO Tower actually has less space than their buildings on Classen and we know OPUBCO won't be leaving right away, so I would expect AF to have a big presence on Classen for the foreseeable future. If and when they do move, it will likely be a gradual process which should help in transitioning their existing properties.

[kevinpate]

What potential might exist for AF to grow at a pace over the next few years to where they need both the space on Classen and most/all of the OPUBCO location?

[Pete]

I deleted several posts by Rover and Just the Facts because it is yet another argument between them about broad urban/suburban topics.

Go to the General Urban Development thread if you want to discuss such things and please stop bringing this to every development thread. Thanks.

[jedicurt]

In yellow is everything OPUBCO owns downtown, about four acres total. The empty area around tract #1 is owned by the City of OKC:

Tract #	Acres
1	1.8343
2	.3214
3	.16
4	.16
5	.16
6	.4017
7	.9115
Total:	3.9489

Isn't tract 1 where a lot of people were speculating for a possible tower in the Mystery Tower forum?

[Pete]

Isn't tract 1 where a lot of people were speculating for a possible tower in the Mystery Tower forum?

Yes, and as we heard both AF and MidFirst were looking to build downtown the reason I showed that graphic was to draw a correlation between OPUBCO's ownership of those parcels and how that may have led to them offering their present HQ as an alternative.

[OKCTalker]

Pete - Does this thread belong in the URBAN development category, or SUBURBAN?

[Pete]

I have it here (urban) because we having built our wiki database in the suburban forum yet.

[Skyline]

Any chance that part of this transaction also includes the downtown property?

[Pete]

Any chance that part of this transaction also includes the downtown property?

Interesting thought.

However, the word is that they plan to move employees into the OPUBCO building soon and it's hard to imagine their goal would be to split up their workforce, as they have largely been all together on Classen for decades.

[wschnitt]

I went by plot 2 today. The fence was gone and there was an available sign out front.

[Pete]

Available for lease or sale?

[catch22]

http://journalrecord.com/2012/05/23/...-headquarters/

[Pete]

Wow, sounds like they are buying all their property up there including the printing plant and the day care center (and acreage) on the north side of Britton.

Another OKCTalk scoop confirmed!

[Pete]

OPUBCO real estate under contract
Published: May 23, 2012

Gary Pierson, President and CEO of The Oklahoma Publishing Company, and Trent Moore, President of American Fidelity Property Company, announced that they have entered into a contract for the sale of OPUBCO’s real estate and office buildings located along the Broadway Extension at Britton Road.

Included are approximately 150 acres, a 12-story office tower, a manufacturing plant, parking garage and day care center. The parties are currently in due diligence and anticipate a closing during the summer months.

After the sale is completed, OPUBCO, including OPUBCO Communications Group, The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com will occupy five floors in the office tower and virtually all of the production facility under separate leases.

After the sale is completed, American Fidelity Assurance Company will begin making plans to gradually relocate their headquarters to the location.
American Fidelity was founded in Oklahoma City in 1960 and The Oklahoma Publishing Company was founded in Oklahoma City in 1903.


Read more: http://newsok.com/opubco-real-estate...#ixzz1vjDvQXry

[Pete]

You have to know David Thompson was involved in this.

Thompson is the former president of OPBUCO that moved on to American Fidelity right around the time Anschutz came on the scene.

[G.Walker]

Wow, this is sooooo wack...good job AF for devoting your "renaissance" to downtown OKC, after all that hoopla on how you are considering a downtown location. Just to move further out! Who's at fault OPUBCO or AF?

[catch22]

Wow, this is sooooo wack...good job AF for devoting your "renaissance" to downtown OKC, after all that hoopla on how you are considering a downtown location. Just to move further out! Who's at fault OPUBCO or AF?

Cut and dry: if it doesn't make business sense for them to build a new building downtown (which is what they'd have to do with no contiguous office space on the market in the CBD) or to keep their offices separated, then they found an option that made sense. Maybe someone else offered to buy their campus.

[Pete]

I'm sure this was a very good business decision by American Fidelity.

They were out of space and this deal was probably too good to refuse. There is 150 of prime real estate out there, in addition to the 50 acres they own just south of OPUBCO.

And if they want to keep their employees together, they are going to have to build out there because the OPUBCO Tower has less square footage than where they are now on Classen, plus OPUBCO is going to lease back five floors.

[BDP]

Uptown and Downtown to AF: OUCH!

[stlokc]

I wanted them to stay on Classen or build downtown as much as anybody, but to be fair, I think most of the "hoopla" surrounding a possible new downtown building involved overheated speculation on this website. Not sure the average OKC businessperson even knew about such speculation.

[G.Walker]

I don't care how you all put it, trying to make this a good thing, this sucks...American Fidelity let downtown down, running further out. The only good I can see coming out of this is Midfirst building downtown.